[Vita Review] Tetris Ultimate

One of the most popular game of all times is getting a new HD version! Tetris is a game that doesn’t really need an introduction given how popular it has grown over the last 30 years, with an install base of (according to Wikipedia) over 170 million copies sold! How does the new Tetris Ultimate version from Ubisoft fare? Read below to find out!

The world’s most-loved puzzle game arrives on next-gen consoles, and is better than ever in Tetris® Ultimate. With fun new features, and unique visuals, the evolution of this iconic game is the ultimate must-have on next-gen consoles.

In this fast-paced game of skills, you can take on the puzzle game solo, team up or battle friends. Up to four players can get in on the action and can play anyone of six modes – Marathon, Endless, Ultra, Sprint, Battle and Battle Ultimate.

Social Feeds keep you up to date with in-game events and allows you to track your friends’ scores. Tetris Ultimate captures and saves your play style, allowing you to always play with or against your friends, even when they are offline.

Leaderboards make it easy to post your scores and see how you measure up against your friends. An official Tetris Rank in the shape of Tetriminos has been implemented to classify and identify the top players. Are you one of the best in the world?

Tetris Ultimate

Tetris Ultimate builds on classic Tetris gameplay and expands it in the few game modes it offers. If you’ve never played a Tetris game (which I think by now is quite unlikely!), you can start off by familiarizing yourself with the two classic gameplay modes: Endless, which is the Tetris game everyone knows, and Marathon, in which the speed goes faster and faster as you level up until you reach the 15th level…and then it gets crazy fast!

The other multiplayer modes are a blast to play online. Battle and Battle Ultimate allow you to compete with either online players or an AI (with selectable difficulty). Battle mode is similar to “Tetrinet” which was popular around 15 years ago. In this one each time you clear lines on your game, it sends unwanted Tetriminos (blocks) to your opponent’s games. Battle Ultimate takes a similar formula but adds a few crazy effects on your opponents board, like scrolling the lines on the left.

The other modes are Duel, Ultra, Haunted and Sprint and are also made for playing online. In Ultra, you must clear as many lines as you can in 3 minutes. The Sprint mode leaves you with 30 seconds and adds a few seconds each time a line is cleared. In Haunted, you have to recall how the layout of the Tetriminos is because the blocks are hidden.

My favorite game mode was definitely Duel mode, in which clearing lines on your screen sends unwanted Tetriminos to your competitor’s screen. Of course, the more lines you clear at once, the larger the number of Tetriminos that are sent, so you’re encouraged to do a Tetris (clearing 4 lines at once) at a time… as long as your opponent doesn’t do the same thing before you’re ready!

On the gameplay front, one of the biggest change in comparison to the classic Tetris games is the ability to “stock” a Tetrimino piece for later use by pressing the Left shoulder button. You can imagine how every time I encountered a straight line I stocked it for later use!

About the game’s presentation, one of the first thing I noticed when I booted it up in standard mode (which I had played a LOT of back in the day on my Gameboy!) is how colorful this new game is. Each block is brilliantly colored and even has some cool effects when dropped.

Finally, in his Tetris Ultimate review from a few weeks ago, Nmac mentioned a glitch on the online which seems to have be fixed as I didn’t encounter it on the online matched I played!

Final ThoughtsTetris Ultimate is a great pick-up and play game that everyone can enjoy. I liked the different modes and the inclusion of an online component in the game. The soundtrack is mainly composed of remixed Tetris themes, but I honestly didn’t like all of the new versions that much and would have liked an option to revert to the originals. One final note: a few trophies of the game are dependent on the online modes so getting all of them might prove hard!

Review

Pros

Cons

Good take on a classic
Lot of modes available
Inclusion of online to compete with other players, but...

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